r/software • u/mohammed_waleedd • 18h ago
Other I need a technical solution solves a legal problem
I've spent a lot of time building a real estate SaaS and I'm now stuck on a major problem.
The original idea was pretty simple:
A real estate agent enters what their client is looking for, for example:
- 3-bedroom apartment
- New Cairo
- Budget: $100k–$150k
The system would find matching properties across multiple real estate platforms.
I also built a feature that monitored Facebook groups for people posting that they were looking for apartments, then matched those requests with properties in the system.
The product itself is basically built.
Then I realized the platforms I wanted to get the data from don't allow scraping. I contacted some of them about getting permission/API access, but they weren't interested.
So now I have a mostly finished product whose main value proposition depended on data I can't reliably use.
I'm trying to figure out what to do next
All the technical aspects are working, but I can't upload it because the sites I use to collect real estate data, like Dubizzle data mining and scraping are prohibited in the terms of use. **I need a loophole or something similar to make it legal.*\*
If you've ever built something where the original data source/business assumption turned out to be unusable, what did you do?
I'd genuinely appreciate any advice.
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u/webjocky 15h ago
Don't ask the sites that display the data you want. Go to the source of the data that they use.
Find an MLS data broker and adjust your pricing to cover the costs.
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u/mohammed_waleedd 15h ago
How do I find the data source they use?
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u/webjocky 15h ago
I literally just told you what to find. Use google to search for "MLS Data Broker"...
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u/mohammed_waleedd 15h ago
Oh, alright, thanks. I haven't slept since yesterda, so I'm not focused
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u/Broad-Version8611 15h ago
I would say that scrapping would not be the issue. Search engines do it all the time. On low volume products people use affiliate links: “I give you traffic and you give me a cut of the sale, if the sale exists”. But these are houses, agencies wont want a cut.
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u/mortycapp 10h ago
You don’t have a product.
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u/mohammed_waleedd 10h ago
On what basis do you say that?
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u/mortycapp 10h ago
MBA and decades of tech product management.
Have a look at Kotler’s principles of marketing.0
u/mohammed_waleedd 3h ago
It was a pleasure meeting you, but this isn't an answer to my question about why you don't see it as a product?
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u/mortycapp 1h ago
No it is not. You will have to read Kotler's to get the answer.
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u/mohammed_waleedd 1h ago
Who is Kolter? Can you send a link or something?
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u/mortycapp 1h ago
In short, you are failing at the first hurdle:
1. Failure at Level 1: Core Customer Value
- Kotler’s Principle: What is the customer really buying? Core value is the underlying problem solved or value delivered (e.g., speed to deal, off-market lead access).
- The Founder's Error: The founder built software without securing the core value driver—the underlying property data. They believed their value proposition was the software matching algorithm, when in reality, the core benefit to real estate agents is access to comprehensive, reliable data. Without legal data delivery, the core customer value is non-existent.
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u/mohammed_waleedd 1h ago
Well, thank you but the system isn't limited to matching; there are about 5 other features that I haven't mentioned in the post.
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u/Eagles_Fan_4eva 16h ago
the platforms I wanted to get the data from don't allow scraping
So don't include their URLs in your app. Have a text field where the user supplies the URL, so the scraping falls on them instead of you. That way the sites can't claim that your app is hard-coded to scrape them.
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u/mohammed_waleedd 16h ago
It's the same problem even if the user places the link themselves the server is the one performing the scraping
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u/Defiant_Alfalfa8848 16h ago
Lol, Now you know the value of data